Episode 117 // Maker Business Side-Hustle with Sami Jo Jensen

Kathleen Shannon 0:01
Hello and welcome to being boss,

Emily Thompson 0:04
a podcast for creative entrepreneurs. I'm Emily Thompson.

Unknown Speaker 0:07
And I'm Kathleen Shannon.

Sami Jo Jensen 0:10
I am Sammy Jo Jensen and I'm being boss.

Kathleen Shannon 0:18
All right, you guys. Today we are talking to Sammy Joe Jensen of floor apothecary. And as always, you can find all the tools, books and links we reference on the show notes at WWW dot being boss dot club. All right, you guys, the nature of work is changing. One in three Americans is self employed. But I feel as if the world was not built for the self employed. There's so many institutions that currently support the workforce. And they're not keeping up with the pace of change needed to serve us creative entrepreneurs. So these are things that have been holding people back from working for themselves, or the things that really intimidate us from doing our best work. institutions like banks, retirement savings, employment insurance, accounting services, they need to adapt or be replaced. And this is why I love fresh books, cloud accounting so much freshbooks has dedicated themselves to keeping up with creative entrepreneurs, and what they really need in a new market and a new economy. they've offered new solutions and are constantly updating their features and tools and resources for freelancers and small business owners in this rapidly changing market. You can try fresh books for free today by going to www.freshbooks.com slash being boss and you can get a 30 day unrestricted free trial just for you guys by entering being boss in the How did you hear about us section? So again, that's freshbooks comm slash being boss and enter being boss in the How did you hear about us section. So you guys see me judge Jensen is a digital marketer by day and a natural skincare maker by night. She's the sole boss bait behind Flora apothecary her line of 100% natural and vegan beauty products. She's been studying herbalism and creating her own cosmetic concoctions since the age of 11. She's on a mission to help women embrace their natural beauty, educate them on toxins in cosmetics, and help them find natural alternatives. Sammy, we're so glad to have you on the show.

Sami Jo Jensen 2:26
Thanks for joining us. I'm so excited. So

Kathleen Shannon 2:28
you've actually been on both of our being boss vacations with us. Yes, in New Orleans, and Miami. Hopefully you'll be joining us again in New Orleans later this year, hopefully, crossing my fingers. But it's so good to see you. And we're super stoked to have you on the show for a lot of reasons. But let's start by just having you share your journey to becoming a creative entrepreneur and a maker obviously, you've been making products since you were 11. So maybe start there.

Sami Jo Jensen 2:55
Yeah, so um, I've always always been a maker. I've always like to tinker with things and make stuff not always well, necessarily, but um, yeah, so I've just I've always, always been a maker. Um, but yeah, so I started making like natural beauty products when I was 11. I bought a kit at like a local craft store for Melt and Pour soap where you just melt down a base and you add fragrance and colorants to it. And I did that in our microwave at home and burned the soap and it smelled awful. And got better and better at it. And I poured it into like little molds and gave it to my friends and my family who all had to you know, then use the soap and solidarity of me even though it was probably pretty bad. But I've gotten a lot better since then. So probably around 19 ish, I started selling Avon products, and I was so bad at it. I'm not the like door to door knocker kind of girl. And also I just didn't really believe in the product, I think so, you know, I was probably like in the shower one day looking at my shower gel from Avon. And I realized that it was just full of all of these ingredients that I didn't know. And I'm also very, very you know, I love to like know what, what I'm doing and why. And I'm very curious. So I went to like research these ingredients and realize there were so many really bad things that were that were in these things that were linked to like, you know, skin, like all kinds of skin ailments, rashes and you know, even things like cancer or birth defects. And I was like, wow, this doesn't seem good. So I already knew how to make soap so I can just kind of go back and start from there. So I did, and I actually first started making and selling cupcakes, soaps, so they were little soaps that were shaped like cupcakes Even the frosting was so dope I hand.

Kathleen Shannon 5:04
microwaving riesel microwaving?

Sami Jo Jensen 5:06
No. At this time I at least had like a double boiler. So I wouldn't you know, burn anything. Um, yeah. So that's kind of the first thing that I started selling. And that that was when I was poor and pretty. And I took that name from a blog that I had started with a friend, because we were both like, broke in college. And she was really into fashion, I was really into, like, DIY beauty. So we kind of started this blog together. After a little while I, you know, she sort of stopped blogging, and I kind of took over it, and then I use that name for my product line. So that's sort of where it all started. Okay, so

Kathleen Shannon 5:47
you started as cupcake soaps at the same time? Were you going to college for beauty? I mean, what were you majoring in in school?

Sami Jo Jensen 5:55
Yeah. So I majored in communications. So it's like, you know, super broad kind of thing. I really wanted to go to school to be an actress, actually. But that did not happen. You know, I really wanted to go to LA but my family just we didn't really have the money to do that. I was the first one first generation and first one of my siblings to go to college. So you know, it just wasn't really in the cards for me to to move out to LA and pursue acting. So I knew that I like to talk and write and communicate. So communications was sort of the way to go for me. So yeah, while while I was, you know, kind of doing the poor and pretty blogging and making products, I was going to college too.

Emily Thompson 6:38
And then after college, you got a job. So you have a day job now. Yeah, and your side hustling for floor apothecary. So I'd love to hear a little bit about the day job and what you do there and how it is that you began, like, the side hustle of juggling both of the things.

Kathleen Shannon 6:58
Yeah, cuz it sounds like you were juggling both things since even like if you think of college as a day job. Yeah, you were I mean, how many of us had passion projects? I didn't have a passion project in college. I don't think I my passion project was like, partying. I was

Sami Jo Jensen 7:13
asked, yeah, I jacked I was not much of a partier.

Kathleen Shannon 7:18
I wasn't either, like I say that, but I was definitely that person in college. I was like, you guys, I turned into a pumpkin at midnight, like, I got to go home and go to sleep.

Sami Jo Jensen 7:26
Yeah, that was me. Um, but I actually So besides going to college and doing the blog and cupcake soaps, I actually also had a job too. Sometimes, depending on what year it was, it might have been full time or not full time. So yeah, so I have been used to juggling a lot of things. I blame that on being a Gemini. And so then, you know, essentially, like I had a job initially, that started as an internship for another for communications firm. So I was doing exactly what I had gone to school for, you know, helping clients with their social media strategies, that kind of stuff, lots of writing blogging, then I kind of grew out of that job and started working for Timex the watch brand. I started there in their e commerce department and then moved over to be a graphic designer. And actually, this goes back to I was I was listening to Episode 108. Today, your episode on leaving your day job. And one of the things that struck me, which is something I know you've said a lot, Kathleen was, you know, if you if you have to be in a day job, try to do things, you know, find work in your day job that fuels your side hustle, or helps in some way. So when I my last position at Timex was as a graphic designer, it's, you know, I'm self taught, so but it's something that I have always been interested in on my own. I've designed like all of my own collateral, my logo, my business cards, my website, like I've done all of that myself. So I knew that actually, being a graphic designer would help me feel like I had the real skills and legitimacy. Kind of going back to that frosty feelings episode, which was like way early on. Um, so yeah, so I mean, and then I left, I actually left Timex last year, just because there were some changes that I wasn't super happy about. But anyway, left there. And now I'm working for a big university. Actually, it's kind of a small university, but still, and I'm managing their digital marketing, like all basically all their social media channels. And that's something that I do obviously constantly with my own you know, brand with Flora apothecary. So still,

Kathleen Shannon 9:51
I love that your day jobs are starting to help you develop skills that certainly show up in floor apothecary and so I want to talk about that for a second because I didn't realize that you designed your own logo, which I love. I love I remember whenever you were in the Facebook group, asking people to vote on a different logo. I was like you had design though. Yes. Um, so I want to talk a little bit about the rebrand because I remember you were starting to just approach a rebrand whenever we were in New Orleans in 2015. Yes, yes,

Unknown Speaker 10:23
yes. And

Kathleen Shannon 10:26
going from porn pretty to floor apothecary. So can you tell us a little bit about why you decided to rebrand?

Sami Jo Jensen 10:32
Yeah, it was it was a gut thing, actually, um, it started to not feel like I don't know, por was just sort of, you know, negative to me. And it just didn't feel it just didn't feel right anymore. And so I kind of had these feelings. And then when I, when we I don't remember if we were, we weren't recording the podcast in New Orleans, but it was one of the one of the sessions that we did, and I, you know, talked about my rebrand and that I wanted to do that. And Emily said something that just sticks out. She knows because she's laughing. And, you know, yeah, she was like, way to cut yourself off at the knees. And I was like, Oh my god, she's so right. And I had already known that, but it was one of those things that I kind of needed to hear other people say it. And by this point, I had gotten away from making my cupcake soaps. Because I knew I wanted to go a more natural route. I should also say, backing up, you know, to my 11 year old self, I was watching a lot of Buffy, and I was studying paganism and herbal ism. And yes, I will be honest, and say that Buffy probably led to that I know, that makes me a huge nerd, like a

Kathleen Shannon 11:46
turtle below. Talking about moving to LA I was like, Oh, you would be the perfect Willow.

Sami Jo Jensen 11:52
Makes me feel so good. I love

Unknown Speaker 11:54
I love that.

Sami Jo Jensen 11:56
Yeah. So anyway, so kind of all of that sort of culminated into me wanting to, you know, make natural products. And also, under the name portant. Pretty, I was totally undercharging, I felt like I couldn't charge what my products were worth because of the name poor and pretty. And I had sat on the name floor apothecary for about a year, probably even longer than that, like I bought the domain name. It was just something that came to me and I was like, I like this, I'm gonna sit on it for a while. And then after going to New Orleans, and after kind of doing a little bit more thinking, I was like, Yes, I'm doing this thing. So, and that was right around the time that I made a lot of changes in my life, I do things really big and all at once. I broke up with my ex boyfriend, um, I rebranded. I moved, I got a new job, like pretty much all within like, six months to a year.

Kathleen Shannon 12:53
How old? Were you? And all of that? I mean, I feel so silly. No, that's okay.

Unknown Speaker 12:57
You know, like, I

Kathleen Shannon 12:58
think that age is kind of relevant for all these milestones. And I feel like a lot of us are at the age where we are doing a lot of big things at the same time. And I don't think it's talked about enough in the creative entrepreneur circles, that we're having babies and getting married or getting divorced and building a business and all these things are happening all at the same time.

Sami Jo Jensen 13:17
Yeah, so I was 28. I'm 29, almost 30 now, so I am, you know, not married and having babies. having babies still kinds of kind of terrifies me a little bit, but

Emily Thompson 13:31
it should. It should.

Sami Jo Jensen 13:32
Thanks. that's reassuring. But no, so yeah, and but I was in a seven year long relationship. And it was pretty serious. But, you know, I just for a lot of reasons had to end it. I do talk about that a lot in my blog post the by Felicia one that I wrote for being boss. So you know, but essentially, he just wasn't supportive wasn't you know, just, it wasn't a good thing for me.

Kathleen Shannon 13:58
I remember in New Orleans when I was asked, like, what, what do you do if you're kind of more woowoo and your partner isn't or, you know, just in general and supportive of your creative endeavors, even from career to personal. And I was like, Wait, what? dump them like,

Sami Jo Jensen 14:17
yeah, and you were speaking to me, essentially. You didn't know it at the time. Funny, yeah. And then I also sought out the tarot card reader with the blue treads that you talked about. And she said the same thing. And so I was like, Yeah, see, this is one of those things I already knew. So

Kathleen Shannon 14:38
okay, so you rebranded and your brand now is so classy, I, I couldn't even remember that your reporting pretty like I completely forgot that whole conversation. And so I think that this really speaks to having that out our package. And not only does it help position you and your field as this high end, super classy non toxic product, I think it also probably gave you the confidence to charge more to develop new products meaning even. And I think that that's important for people to understand as well as that branding isn't just about from the inside out, but kind of from the outside in. Oh, that comes to creating the business that you want to build.

Sami Jo Jensen 15:20
Yeah, definitely. And I mean, I was so essentially what I did to rebrand is I shut down, I shut down porn, pretty apothecary at the time, I was only selling through Etsy. And, you know, I sold like in person at craft fairs and things like that. But most of my business came through Etsy. And I was like, No, I'm done with that. The, I guess I'm not quite done with Etsy, I still have a few products there. But at the time, I was like, I want to control my brand, I want to control my email list. You know, I knew all those things were important. So I was like, I'm gonna go with Shopify, I can code but I hate it. So I was like, I'm gonna go with something where I know that I don't have to do a whole lot with it. So I went with Shopify. And I felt really, that felt really boss to me, like that just felt like this is a this is like a big girl tool, because I have to pay a monthly fee to use it. And I have to be really serious about it. But I also knew that my sales would support that.

Kathleen Shannon 16:17
And have they like, how it's grown since rebranding?

Sami Jo Jensen 16:21
It's, it's grown a lot. I have a lot more wholesale accounts. I'm doing a lot more online sales I have, I actually have a lot of people who say the same thing that you do, which is, you know, oh, I had no idea that you like that this was your side hustle thing. Like, that's crazy, which always makes me feel so good. So it's been a lot of really great growth for me, and, and I do feel really confident. And I felt I felt really confident during the rebrand. And I just poured all of my energy into that, because I had just broken up with my boyfriend. And I was like, I'm gonna make this happen. Like, this wasn't my thing. Now, nobody's gonna bring me down. And so I just went all in. And afterwards, I was like, I'm so proud of this. And I still feel that way. But I mean, it's definitely stressful too. But I know that I'm doing something that I love. It's something that speaks to me as a person who loves nature, as a person who wants to feel, you know, pretty without having to wear a lot of makeup. And not that that's a bad thing, either. But, um, you know, I just never, I've never really been into that. But it's Yeah, it makes me very happy and very confident. And that definitely carries back into the business as well. Oh,

Emily Thompson 17:37
I love that. Dude, I can't even tell now, like knowing you and seeing you talk about your business as long as we have, like seeing the confidence with which you talk about what you do now is so different from when you were like talking about portability, and kind of unsure if that was the name for you. Like Yeah, huge, massive changes have have definitely happen. Totally gratulations a lot of hard work, but it sounds like some good payoffs.

Unknown Speaker 18:04
Definitely. Okay, I

Kathleen Shannon 18:04
want to talk a little bit about still having a day job, and floor apothecary being your side hustle. And it's Do you have like a revenue split? Like how much money do you make from your day job? And then how much do you make from your side hustle, and is there at any point $1 amount where you would leave your day job and make Fleur apothecary your full time hustle. Um, and you don't have to give specific numbers, you just want to give like a pie chart breakdown almost.

Sami Jo Jensen 18:31
Yeah, so I mean, most of most of the money that I make from floor apothecary really goes back into it, whether it's advertising or, you know, making, you know, buying ingredients to make new products. So I so I don't really take home a whole lot from it at this point. Because I'm really still kind of in the building phase of it, even though even though I have been making and selling products for God, like I don't know, 910 years at this point. I still, at least with this brand, I'm finally getting serious about it. So I would say so I wouldn't even I don't even really count it as income yet. And maybe that's a bad thing. But But I do track it, you know, vigorously I have a monthly goal and a yearly an annual goal that I need to meet. So far this year. I've been like way exceeding it. It's only February but still. And yeah, but so most of my income, I would say all all of my income comes from my day job. But that being said, there's a lot of it that I can and am putting aside for the time that I decided it's time to leave and again, in your Episode 108 you were saying Kathleen about how you know it's usually about when you're at like 50% at least like this is kind of how you feel about it when you're at 50% of your income for your side hustle. That's when you can leave and I would say That's probably true for me, especially because I do have a partner who's working too. So, you know, right now I actually make more than he does, but maybe someday that that will be different. Or maybe someday, you know, my, my business will take off and he will work for me. He's okay with that, too. He actually works.

Kathleen Shannon 20:17
So is he more supportive than the ex that you? Oh,

Sami Jo Jensen 20:19
yes, with? Definitely he, um, he loves to cook. So he cooks most of our meals a week when, you know, I come home and, and have to, you know, just like, want to get right into my business. He's like, Don't worry, I'll cook. You know, and, and he helps me, I don't even have to ask him, like, when I'm setting up for a craft fair, or, you know, like, we have a family calendar, and I write on, you know, the days that I'm doing a craft fair and things like that. And he'll be like, Okay, what do you need from me? Do you need my help? Like, and he's, he's just amazing. He's wonderful. Yeah, so I feel really good. And he, you know, he helps me I had a, I partnered with goddess provisions. Last year, I had my chocolate masks in their box, and I had to make 2300 masks. And, yeah, and I don't think I would have been able to do that if it, you know, for one for Dave. And also my niece, I paid her to help us out. She's 14. So I paid her like 10 bucks an hour. And it was like the best thing ever for her. So. So yeah, but a lot of, you know, with the nine to five thing, a lot of it comes down to budgeting your time and your money. And you know, I have to be really good at making sure that I'm not buying things that I don't need. Because, you know, I kind of have to ask myself every time I want to buy something, do I really want this? Or do I really want to work for myself someday? And I try to get into the habit of thinking about that, you know, with within reason?

Kathleen Shannon 21:52
What do you think would have to change in your business model for it to be making a profit? Like, we're you're not pouring all your money back into the business, but actually making a profit? I mean, are there any goals like having a bigger brand buy you out where you could still be maybe the creative director and designing the products, but not necessarily having to deal with distribution? Like what would have to happen? What would have to change? Well, right now

Sami Jo Jensen 22:17
I'm focusing on getting more wholesale accounts. Because that's, that's really where I can bring in, you know, I mean, yes, I want to grow my email list and get more people to my website. But you know, doing like, one one on one orders is not going to grow my business as much as getting my, my products into the hands of, you know, hundreds of people in in stores, and brick and mortar stores and online, you know, marketplaces as well. So that's kind of where my focus is. I do have a revenue goal for when, for when I want to quit my day job, and that is right around 50%. But the other thing too, and actually, I'm going to recommend a resource. It's called make a living selling what you make. It's by Meghan alman. From it's a, it's a creative live broadcast.

Kathleen Shannon 23:06
And she's a friend of terrigen tillys.

Sami Jo Jensen 23:10
Yeah, yep. Yeah, she's, she's amazing. And I took that during my rebrand. And she's all about like, before you even get into pricing your products or anything, she basically makes you start out, okay, what do you want to be making a year to support the life that you want to have? I think it's important for all of us to travel, you know. So that's something that like, Dave and I just got back a couple of weeks ago, from a two week euro trip, I'd never been to Europe, I bought tickets to see the Harry Potter play, like two years ago, that's how long it had to wait. And I was like, You know what, let's make this a thing. So I know, it's really important to me to be able to maybe not have that big of a travel, you know, vacation every year, but something like that every year. So you work that into what you want to be making. And then you price your products based on that, which I thought was genius, and something that I don't think people think of that much. They just kind of go with a formula of Okay, this is how much it costs me. You know, this is how much how much time it took me to make without actually thinking of what money really means to them, and how that can actually support their lifestyle. So that's something that I would highly recommend for any makers to take her class. Um, and we'll definitely

Kathleen Shannon 24:22
link to that in the show notes.

Unknown Speaker 24:25
Yeah.

Emily Thompson 24:25
So what I would really recommend though, not that we got on this to coach you say me, that's okay. But for anyone listening, I

Kathleen Shannon 24:33
think it's I

Emily Thompson 24:34
think it's really common for people to start a business and to really use profit or paying themselves as like, the least important thing, like all the other things are really important and it is very important to put your money back in your business and invest where needed and all of those things. But if you never make it a priority to pay yourself from your business, you'll never make it a priority to pay yourself from your business. And even Kathleen has this little like write yourself a check thing. Which I think is genius, where like, even if you just start writing yourself a check for 50 bucks a week, or whatever, like something really, really small so that you are making it sound like at least on the list of priorities, even if it's not at the very top,

Sami Jo Jensen 25:15
I like think and I'm going to do that

Kathleen Shannon 25:17
good. And please, like taps into the universe a little bit where you start to get in the habit and you start to prove to sorry, Emily, I didn't mean to totally cut you off. But you're you're starting to prove to yourself that this is important. And your brain starts to recognize, okay, I'm writing myself a $50, check every week, what if that was $500? What if that was $5,000, and your brain will start to find ways for you to make that happen. But first, you have to put the habit in place to start to increase it?

Sami Jo Jensen 25:50
Well, and it also makes you feel like you've earned it, you know, like, it's, you can say, like, I have earned this money. I know that I have because my blood sweat and tears went into doing everything to get this money. So and I think, you know, feeling like you're worth it, and you've earned it is is a really good thing to have, too. So, thank you, Emily, I'm going to start doing that.

Emily Thompson 26:12
Please do. It's important. And everyone should read writing yourself a check from your business is an absolute must. So if you're not doing it yet start really small, but start.

Kathleen Shannon 26:23
Okay, I want to talk a little bit about the other side of pricing and the products that you use are super quality, right? Yeah. I mean, I so I have to tell everyone, I use your products, saying me, you sent me. Well, I got one, the chocolate mask and the goddess box. And then you sent me like a couple of really small samples. But then after that I was buying it. So you guys 100% you have to know I was actually buying sammys products, the deodorant is the bomb. Everyone. posts from whenever I was still personal blogging was all about my armpits.

Sami Jo Jensen 26:59
Well, that's why I knew I had to send you some deodorant. I was like, I you know what I'm, and that was another thing that I was really nervous about doing. But I was like, You know what, I know, she'll be honest. And if she hates it, then she'll just, you know, say that she hates it, and she'll never use it and it'll be fine. But I was like, I'm gonna send this I'm gonna like take the leap and, and send it to you and and you love it. And that makes me feel so good.

Kathleen Shannon 27:22
And I love your masks. And I love your I use the facial serum. So it's really good. And my sister or my brother's girlfriend loves it as well. She is really sensitive skin. And she says it's the only like oil based CRM that she can use that doesn't make her breakout. So

Sami Jo Jensen 27:39
that makes me feel so good.

Kathleen Shannon 27:40
Thank you lots of compliments. And I was also just catching up on your blog the other day and you share such good information, it is clear that you are knowledgeable about the ingredients that you use. So there's two things I want to talk about next is pricing your ingredients and really not compromising that. So I as we were talking about pricing and paying yourself I can see where people start to get into a place where they might start sacrificing ingredients to keep their price point low and to make more profit. I don't have a feeling that you would ever do that. Maybe we're you know, like what how do you work around that? Like how do you source and price your ingredients and keep keep your products like at the quality that it is at the price that

Sami Jo Jensen 28:24
it is. So that's actually another thing that I learned from Meghan Owlman, and she she has you go through this whole you know, this whole thing about finding other products that are similar to yours in the market and finding finding like the highest price point, and like finding an average and then looking at your price point and it's all like it's always so much higher. The you know, the average in the market versus like your own price point and you're like okay, so I guess people are already spending this much money, which is which makes me feel good. So I so that's kind of where I start from because then that gives me again, like that place of like confidence and security that I know that I'm not crazy. But also, I it's very very important to me to use organic and Fairtrade ingredients whenever possible. And also my products are all vegan, so I don't even use things like beeswax or honey in my products. So all of those things are really important to me, I want to because for me, like I want to know exactly what I'm putting on my body and I want to know that it's, you know, harvested in a sustainable way. I want to know that there aren't any. You know, there aren't any like toxic chemicals that go into the production process of this product because otherwise it's like okay, well if I'm just getting ingredients that are toxic and putting it into my, you know, even if even if they're natural ingredients, if they've been treated with toxins to be made or harvested, then it's kind of defeating the purpose. So. So for me, that's really important. And I know that for people who purchase for me, for my community, that's also really important to them. So it doesn't, it doesn't really make me feel nervous. And again, I think doing that research and seeing what else is out there and what other, especially, especially if you look at companies where you know, there are toxic ingredients in them, and they're charging three times more than what you want it to charge, you're like, Okay, like, I don't feel bad anymore about this, like, I feel like I can ask for this kind of money, and I deserve it.

Emily Thompson 30:37
I feel like you're talking about so much awareness now that I just have to make people aware of your awareness. And that you know, what's important to you, you know, what's important to your customer, and you know, what's out there and what isn't out there, like you are doing all the footwork that you need to make the right product for yourself and your customers? And that is, that's something I admire hugely.

Sami Jo Jensen 31:01
Thank you. Yeah, I mean, and again, it goes back to just my personality, too. I'm a very curious research oriented person, which I never really thought that I would be research oriented, but I really am. And so that's why that's really important to me, because I know, I, I would want to know where everything comes from. So I want to know that for my customers, too. Okay, speaking

Kathleen Shannon 31:26
of research, how do you let's talk about time again, like one, how do you find the time to study herbalism? And like, even the the ingredients that you use, knowing that they're not going to what's the word that you use on your blog recently? Like, non comment, comment generic? Yeah,

Sami Jo Jensen 31:46
so that means it doesn't clog your pores.

Kathleen Shannon 31:48
Okay. So like, knowing stuff like that, like, how do you how do you make the time to learn about this stuff? And then on top of that, actually create the stuff. And here's another question I have, are you creating the products as they come in, like on demand? Or do you create batches and then ship them out? Like, how does what's your process? Like?

Sami Jo Jensen 32:09
Yeah, so well, kind of going back to your, your question about budgeting time I use, I do use Asana, which I think is actually something I learned about from you, ladies, I also have a I like to cross things off, it makes me feel accomplished. So I also have like paper to do lists. And I have a planner that I use on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis, that's a print planner. So I have to be very, very organized, because otherwise, I'm a complete scatterbrain. And I and that's also awareness, I know that about myself. So I know that I have to be really organized if I want to get things done. So usually what happens is I will concentrate on making during the week, because after you know, as in my job, I'm a digital marketer. So I don't want to do a whole lot of digital marketing when I come home, because I've been doing it all day. So I know. So I try to prioritize doing you know, making during the week, so that on the weekend, I can do my marketing, my content creation, my photography, you know, the other thing too is, when I come home from work, a lot of times, especially, you know, during this time of year, there's not a whole lot of light. So I can't take photos that well. So that's why I have to prioritize doing that on the weekends so that I have nice, natural light that I can use for my photos. So that's a big part of it. And then going back to you know, I said Dave cooks a lot. So he gives me, you know, if he's making dinner during the week, that gives me time to work on business stuff. And then yes, I do normally make batches of things and then ship them out kind of as as I get orders for them. You know, sometimes if I'm getting like a big wholesale order, I'll have to make extra of something. In that case, you know, I always tell people that I need about two to three weeks to fulfill a wholesale order, most of the time it's done in half the time or less. But you know, I do try to give myself a grace period because yeah, I have a full time job too. So but yeah, that's that's pretty much how I handle it. But a lot of it is is planning, you know, a lot of is having a content calendar, knowing what to post and when, and that's how I am able to create so much, you know, photography and because I do it all on the weekend and kind of like schedule it out.

Unknown Speaker 34:30
I also and

Kathleen Shannon 34:31
then what about like learning about the product itself? Like, you know, I feel like you're so knowledgeable and smart. And obviously nerding out on things is something that you like to do naturally. So are you naturally reading books about beauty or listening to podcasts or taking courses? Tell me a little bit more about that. Yeah,

Sami Jo Jensen 34:49
so there definitely are some courses and I've thought about like going to school to be an aesthetician but I'm like, you know what, I really don't want to go back to school. So a lot of it is research that I done on my own buying books, you know, doing online classes, things like that, and just doing research myself, I've started to really, you know, be, I'm able to kind of like read scientific research now, especially because my boyfriend is around and he is a scientist. He's a bio molecular scientist, so I can bring things to him and be like, that's what is this word? Yes. So he's great. I'm like, you know, so he helps me with with some of that stuff sometimes. But, um, yeah, a lot of it is, that's, that's what I read, like, like, for fun. I guess I'm kind of harmony and that way. You know, so I'm in and I also, my products tend to come from either a place of curiosity, or because I know that it's something that people want like the deodorant. I've never really, I'm I'm not, I don't sweat a lot. And I don't really get all that stinky, and I'm not super active. So deodorant, finding rabid and sorry. So find a stinky guy. So finding a natural deodorant, for me wasn't, it wasn't too much of a challenge. I did try a lot and was surprised that I couldn't find something that worked for me. But I knew that it was it was kind of like the last bastion that people hold on to when they're switching to natural products. So I was like, I'm gonna make one that works, because I'm also really determined. And so yeah, so that's, that's kind of where that came out of, but everything else, you know, the soap, like, I was just like, I kind of want to make this I want to learn how to do it myself. And then it was sort of like a challenge. You know, now it was like, Okay, well, I can make my own soap, can I make my own? You know, facial toner? Can I make my own hairspray? Can I make you know, so it usually comes out of that. And, and also, you know, people will ask me for things. And things like sugar scrub is, you know, those are actually pretty easy to make. So, um, yeah, so I mean, a lot of it just comes from research, like knowing what other people like, but also what, what I want to make and what would be fun for me, and what would be a challenge for me. And then I start from Okay, I know, I want to make something like this. What have I used that that has worked? What have I use that has, you know, hasn't worked? And how can I make How can I make it unique and make it better? And then that's when I kind of go into research mode, either buying and trying different products or researching the ingredients and the ones that worked and didn't work and researching other ingredients that you know, I think might work. And then a lot of it is trial and error. So I mean, the deodorant, I think, took me probably two or three tries to get right. And then once I knew it worked for me, I was like, Okay, I that's great that it works for me. But again, I'm not super stinky, or you know, whatever. So,

Kathleen Shannon 37:55
so let me send this

Sami Jo Jensen 37:59
cuz if it works for her, I know we're

Kathleen Shannon 38:02
getting sorry. Okay, side note. I just heard that. Is it chlorella? Or is that the poison? The green supplement that you can take? It's like Artefill.

Sami Jo Jensen 38:12
Is it chlorophyll? Like, like, chlorella plant stuff?

Kathleen Shannon 38:16
I don't know. Yeah. I will link to it in the show notes. Nature's deodorant. It works from the inside out. Apparently, it's just like a supplement that you add to your water.

Unknown Speaker 38:25
Oh, that's interesting.

Kathleen Shannon 38:27
Isn't it, Sam?

Unknown Speaker 38:27
Yeah, thing with your deodorant.

Kathleen Shannon 38:29
I've also found I will say this to you though, I have to cycle through my natural deodorants. So there are probably like three brands now that I really like. And yours is one of them, just to be fair, I have to cycle through because it's almost like my body becomes used to one and then I go to the other one. And then once it gets used to that, like I go to the next one.

Sami Jo Jensen 38:47
Yeah. And that's, that's totally normal, too. And I tell people to whenever they're switching products, whether it's a deodorant, especially if it's a deodorant, but really, with any any product switching that you're doing, especially for going from a non natural to a natural to give your body at least two weeks to adjust. Because essentially, what your body is doing is detoxing. So if you're switching to a new deodorant, you might be a little extra stinky for a little while. So you kind of have to let your body work through that. And then it'll adjust and you know, be better. So that's one thing that I always like to tell people. And then usually after that it works, but it makes total sense that you have to kind of switch through things because your hormones are changing.

Kathleen Shannon 39:29
Yeah, speaking of hormones, one of my other brands that I was using a lot. And whenever I was pregnant, and breastfeeding would totally make me break out and it was totally just like a hormone thing. Yeah. And once I was done, being pregnant and nursing a baby, it worked again.

Sami Jo Jensen 39:46
So I actually have I have an E book, which I wrote as poor and pretty and still have yet to kind of fully rebrand. But I actually launched that right after Nola and it's called The DIY guide to beauty on a budget. And that's actually also available on Flora apothecary calm. So for people who are kind of just getting into natural beauty want to know how to trend how to like kind of transition into natural beauty or whether you want to make it yourself or not, it's a really good guide. And it has a lot of the research that I've done already there. It has, you know, tips on like, what kinds of essential oils to use, when not to use them what they pair well with, you know, as well as like a lot of things on like, how to figure out what your skin type is, which is really kind of a myth anyway, and you know how to figure out like, but really how to figure out like kind of what your skin problems are and how to fix them, as well as a lot of recipes, too.

Kathleen Shannon 40:41
I love that we'll definitely link to that in the show notes, for sure. rebrand it before this episode launches.

Right.

And I want to talk a little bit more about just kind of being a maker and the challenges that you face as a maker, like Do you ever listen to being bossed because obviously, we talk to a lot of service providers, and we offer more services than makers but I'm starting to see a lot of overlap between being a maker and a service provider, I feel like pricing is very similar. It's looking at the life that you want to live and working backwards from there, looking at how much you need versus how much you want. I think the only difference is really just that challenge in sourcing materials and kind of having that overhead. But are there any other challenges as a maker that you wish you could hear more about on being boss or talk about on being boss, or just share your struggles with just share your story? What sucks.

Sami Jo Jensen 41:41
Um, I mean, I really love making things. So that honestly is my favorite part. And I I've given a lot of thought to, you know, being a service based business as well for a while, I thought and you know, this could change again, because I'm a Gemini that like maybe I would do some service based, like graphic design or content marketing for people and some making. I really love making, I mean, even when I tried to stop, like doing poor and pretty for a while before I rebranded, I was like, I really need to do this, because I just love it. Um, but yeah, sourcing sourcing is can be kind of challenging. And again, it's it's a lot of it's a lot of that research, I mean, I think when you're a service based business, you're probably still doing a lot of research, like what the trends are in graphic design, and you know, easier ways to do things. And, you know, so I kind of have to keep up with with that sort of stuff as well. As well as making sure. One thing that I noticed that a lot of people don't consider when pricing their products is, is actually shipping costs of their ingredients. So that's something that I always make sure that I work into my ingredients and trying to make sure that I get you know, a lot of things from one vendor so that whenever I'm buying things, I'm not just buying like one thing at a time, I'm really maximizing like that shipping costs. So that's one thing that I probably wouldn't like, I that's one of those things I had to figure out on my own. Generally, I think, I think a lot of it does feel really similar. I think maybe at the beginning when I didn't really understand my business as well. I probably felt that way about the being boss podcast, you know, that I was like, Oh, why can't they just talk about, you know, maker stuff and like how to, I mean, but one thing that would be great is would be like product photography, right? Like, that's something that I know a lot of people struggle with, and especially doing that kind of thing on a budget. You know, you don't have to have a DSLR you don't have to have like all of these crazy, like granite backdrops and stuff like that. And I feel like that's something that's pretty unique to, to makers, you know, is that Yeah, all

Kathleen Shannon 44:02
natural light and iPhone, right,

Sami Jo Jensen 44:05
basically. Yeah, I mean, I do have I do have a digital SLR that I do most of my product photos with, but a lot of the stuff that I put on Instagram is is done with my iPhone, you know, and things like, you know, there are probably unique challenges, like how do I set up shipping costs and figure out those things and like, you know, how do I sell outside of the United States? And you know, those are all kinds of things that I think are pretty unique to makers.

Unknown Speaker 44:31
I have a question about the beauty box or contributing to the Goddess box.

Unknown Speaker 44:37
Yeah. Oh,

Kathleen Shannon 44:38
I've always been really curious how that works. And if that was a strategy that converted well for you, so you got to make 2300 Yes, little chocolate masks, which are so amazing and good. So were you do you get paid or do you have to give? Are you giving those for free? And did you see a return on that investment? How does that work? Yes.

Sami Jo Jensen 45:01
I don't this is the only box that I've worked with, I've been approached by other boxes, but goddess provisions is the only one that I've actually worked with, they gave me they gave me money upfront that essentially just covered my cost of materials. So it didn't cover the cost of time. of, you know, making all the products, it didn't cover my nieces, you know, income. It didn't cover shipping, like, and I had to ship on a pallet, which was ridiculously expensive. So that's something that I wish that I had researched a little bit more, I had to ship these 2300 glass masks on a pallet and I had to have, you know, I had to pay a company to come out and like pick it up from my house. So that was, that was pretty pricey. I think it was like around $800 just for shipping. Yeah, and I, I don't know how much I don't know, if they give everybody the same amount of money or, you know, if there's, if there's like a certain I don't want to say how much it is only because, you know, I don't know if they have like a nondisclosure or something but, but essentially, they gave me enough money got paid.

Kathleen Shannon 46:12
Yeah, at Costco, maybe lost a little bit on that pallet. Yes,

Sami Jo Jensen 46:15
definitely lost some on the pallet shipping, um, I didn't, I didn't recoup my costs, I will say that much. I also weigh over bought, because, you know, my, I'm not great at math. And so my math was like, totally off with how much ingredients I need. So I have, you know, cocoa powder to last me for like the rest of my life. But, um, yeah, so, but how it worked with them is they, you know, they gave me some money upfront, I was able to use that to buy a lot of the, you know, ingredients that I would need. And then I got a lot of new Instagram followers from it, and a lot of great content from it, I didn't get a whole lot of return orders. And I think that might just be the nature of those boxes. Because a lot of times, you know, like I had gotten boxes like that before, I used to get like a craft subscription box. And I would, you know, probably like use the product, and then never think about it again. So I think that's probably just the nature of those things. And maybe there are some companies that have done really well with them. Like I said, I did get a lot of followers, I did get some orders from it. I got, you know, a couple of new, you know, I would call them like influencers in the community who really like love my products. And, you know, we'll talk about my products whenever possible, you know, whenever they have, like new, I have new things out and stuff. So that's nice, but like cost wise, you know, the sales did not add up to what I was what I was hoping for. So then like,

Kathleen Shannon 47:55
what would you do differently? So now let's say would you do a box again? Or where would you allocate your time and money and energy to getting to growing your brand and getting more of your product out into the world.

Sami Jo Jensen 48:07
So if I were going to invest that same amount of money that I poured into the goddess provisions box, I would probably put it towards going to like an industry event, you know, something? I know there are like wholesale events for natural beauty businesses. And they're like couple that I would really love to go to. And I think that's what I probably would have done with the money. And that's probably what I will end up doing with it either this year or next year. So and again, it could be different, like it could just be my unique experience. I am I mean, I got reviews back on the products, because they actually send out surveys, which I think is really great for the products, and everybody loved them. But you know, that just didn't translate into sales. And also a mask is something that like, you're probably not going to use pretty frequently. You know, maybe they use it like a couple of times. And but I did insist, and I think this is something that if if a maker is considering doing a box that they should insist upon, I did insist upon having a coupon that went with my mask, so that because that I knew would help push sales. But even with that coupon, which was a pretty It was a 25% discount. So that's pretty good. You know, even with that, it just didn't really translate into sales. And I was hoping it would because the box went out in October. I had the coupon code through the end of January. So I was like, yeah, people are gonna try my stuff for a little while they're gonna love it. They're gonna come back for the holidays in order, and it just didn't work out that way.

Emily Thompson 49:46
That's um, it's some really good insights, though. I feel like I've gotten several questions about those sort of subscription boxes both like both in terms of people who want to start them because I think that it is very in right now. Have your back Kathleen and I have even talked about doing the boss box very lightly. But but also in people being invited to be a part of them. So I like you sharing that. And

Kathleen Shannon 50:09
I love I love the goddess provisions box like I do. It's really great. Emily and I both get it every month we should have her on the show to talk about we should have a

Emily Thompson 50:19
box. Agreed.

Sami Jo Jensen 50:21
But how often do you actually buy? Like when you after you're done using the product? Right? Do you end up buying a lot of them? No, but

Kathleen Shannon 50:29
I did. There was another beauty mask in a recent box and I started following them. So like I'm more likely to follow the beauty people in the box. And that might just be my own personal preferences. Except not the lip glosses because they're sticky, but anything that's like a mask or skincare or deodorant? I'm I'm more likely to invest time or at least Instagram follow in that.

Sami Jo Jensen 50:54
Yeah. Because that's really easy to do.

Kathleen Shannon 50:57
Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's just about being reminded, you know, all the time. Okay. Emily, did you say that you have to go?

Unknown Speaker 51:03
No, no, no,

Kathleen Shannon 51:05
I have to go. No,

Emily Thompson 51:07
I was gonna say, um, what? What I love like just coming. What's coming up for me and talking to you is I can't wait for you to do this full time.

Unknown Speaker 51:16
Oh, thank you.

Emily Thompson 51:18
And I only say well, I say that for lots of reasons. But really, like I can tell like you are in this, you are so wholeheartedly in this. And I just can only imagine what you will be able to produce whenever you are allowed to invest more of your time and energy into this into this business of yours. It's fun to watch you talk about it.

Sami Jo Jensen 51:43
Thank you. I cannot wait for that day. Also.

Kathleen Shannon 51:48
Well, I'm a total beauty skincare nerd and I love using all of your stuff. I also just used the coconut cow body butter.

Unknown Speaker 51:59
Oh yeah, with my body butter. And I

Kathleen Shannon 52:02
love that you have a warning on it to not actually

Unknown Speaker 52:05
it's so good, especially,

Kathleen Shannon 52:07
especially while he's doing a whole 30 I was so tempted to just like, take a bite,

Sami Jo Jensen 52:13
I promise. smells like chocolate, but it doesn't taste like it. It's really funny because I was making it one. And I whip it in a KitchenAid just like you would make you know, like frosting, homemade frosting. And Dave came into the kitchen. And he was like, I know, I can't eat that. But I really want to try it. And I was like fine, but you have to put on gloves first. And he actually did try it. And he was like, Yeah, I knew it wasn't going to be good.

Kathleen Shannon 52:44
So I'm using it on my hands in the winter. So okay, I want to I want to nerd out on some beauty for a second, okay, we go, what is your favorite product that you make, like what could you not live without, and maybe you just give us like kind of an overview of some of your favorite products that you make,

Sami Jo Jensen 52:59
okay, um, I cannot live without my toner. That is my favorite product. And that is what I've, I'm pretty lucky in that I, I never really had a whole lot of acne. But I would have really I'd have some patches that were really dry, and then some patches that were you know, really oily. So and I actually have a friend who is, um, you know, she went to beauty school. She's not an aesthetician, but she had to take a lot of like skincare classes. And I remember her telling me when I don't know, I was probably like, 1617, she was like, You need to have a toner. And I was like, Okay, I trust you because like you're going to school for this. And I started using one and like, that's what started to really like make my skin kind of glow and be vibrant and feel like just not look so like, you know, um, and it also evened out my, my dry spots and my oily spots. So that is the product that I can't live without. And actually we Dave and I ran out of it because he uses it to he actually you could quiz him about my products and he knows most of it. So that's how that's how you can tell his support. So it's also for you guys listen, exactly. We ran out of it on our vacation and I was like, Oh my god, what am I gonna do and my skin was like dry the rest of the time because it was super cold in Europe. But anyway, um, so that is one thing I can't live without. It's got rosewater in it, which is really great for hydrating your skin. It also has green tea extract in it, which is another thing that's really great for balancing and also reduces redness and like blockiness in your skin, which is sometimes a problem for me. So those are both things that are you know, really great. It has a lot of other amazing ingredients too. But um, that's probably the one product that I can couldn't live without. The next would probably be my rejuvenating serum. So the one that you mentioned Kathleen Your sister, your brother's girlfriend, us though.

Kathleen Shannon 55:03
My sister in law, but my brother's girlfriend, they

Sami Jo Jensen 55:06
are not married. Um, yeah, so that and that's a relatively new product, I launched that, I think May or June of last year. So still somewhat new to the line. I used to just use like, water based moisturizers for my skin. And I don't know, like my skin would just kind of like suck it in, and it would still be kind of dry as especially because I live in Connecticut, and it can be pretty dry here in the winter. So I decided to just out of nowhere make a theorem because I just I wanted again, this was like a challenge for me. I was like, first I wanted to make a moisturizer. But I know that a lot of moisturizers, you know, they're they're water based. And anytime you add water to something, you have to add a preservative most of the time they have to be chemical in order to keep like the fungus and bacteria out of it. And I was like, Nope, I'm not doing that. I don't want to, you know, sacrifice the quality of my brand for that. So I'm going to make it purely oil based. And I did. And this was one of those things that I got right on the first try, which happens sometimes. And it was really great. And yeah, so that's another thing that's really great. Most of my products, including the serum, have hobo oil in them. And that is like a miracle ingredient for me that I found. Because it's most it's the oil that is most similar to our skin's own natural oils without being an allergenic. So a lot of people are allergic to almond oil and other kinds of nut oils. hoba is actually technically a wax, so, but it functions on our bodies like an oil. So that is actually a lot of my products, including the whipped body butter, my serum, basically anything that has oil in it has a hobo oil in it. So that's one thing that I also really love. And then I also love the whipped body butter because it smells like chocolate, but not too much like chocolate. Like you don't smell like a bakery when you put it on. But you know, sometimes I'll put it on and my co worker that I sit next to she's like, oh god, I just really want some chocolate now and I'm like, I'm sorry, you can have some of this but don't eat it. And I so I love that because a lot of whipped body butters are like really, like really thick and like sticky. And mine again, because it has the hobo oil in it which absorbs really nicely into our skin. It's it doesn't end up being like thick and sticky. It absorbs pretty well. So I love that especially during the winter time. And sometimes I actually haven't had to do this. Now that I've been using my serum, but I used to have to use some of my whipped body butter on my face too. You can it does, it does have coconut oil in it. So I don't recommend using it as like your primary source of moisturizer. Because coconut oil can cause breakouts that can clog your pores. So yeah, those are probably my favorites, my scrubs, I really, you know, go through those, depending on what kind of mood I'm in and what kind of season it is. As far as the face masks go, I have a rose one or charcoal one and a chocolate one, the chocolate ones my favorite because it's chocolate. And the charcoal one I like to use usually like a week leading up to my period, because that's when I tend to have breakouts, again, kind of going back to like the hormones changing like our skin and stuff. So and I wouldn't recommend that for people who have really sensitive skin. But I should also kind of going back to the hobo oil thing. It's really important to me. And this isn't something that I necessarily use as a marketing platform. But I probably should. It's important to me to create products for people who have really sensitive skin or allergies. So even though I can use a lot of things, including element oil, I don't put it in my products because I want people who do have sensitive skin and allergies to be able to use my products.

Kathleen Shannon 59:10
I love that. One of the things I love about your products is that they make me feel super girly. Like and I feel like there's like a ritual to even I just remember that I use a toner. I had a small sample size and ran out of it pretty fast, but I would use it every morning and it would just make me feel like I'm the girl in the world. And then I love that. It's like I just feel like there's some ritual included and you have the pink Himalayan salts that you can dash in your bath like I just feel like they make you feel super pretty but also that you're blending ritual with beauty. So it's not just about the beauty itself but the ritual of taking care of yourself which is a big part of being boss is making sure that you're taking care of yourself like a boss and I just think that your products do good with that. I think also There's something to the fact that use glass. Like I think, yeah, your glassware makes it feel extra special.

Sami Jo Jensen 1:00:07
Well, that's another thing that's important because a lot of times essential oils can break down the plastics, or like the chemicals in plastic. So it's and you know, plastic is not as eco friendly. So for me, it's it was super important to make sure that I had something that not only could withstand, you know, the oils that I was using, but also is, you know, really recyclable. So that's why I went with glass. I

Unknown Speaker 1:00:34
love it. All right,

Kathleen Shannon 1:00:37
let's wrap this up. I want to ask you what makes you feel most boss?

Sami Jo Jensen 1:00:41
Um, well, being on being boss feels pretty boss. I have to be honest. Um, and I feel really boss when I get nice, like comments from people and reviews when you know people are like, Oh my god, I love your product. I can't live without it. It's you know, changed my life or, or even when they say things like, and actually, you're the second person who said to me this week already. Oh, I had no idea that floor apothecary was a side hustle. So that also makes me feel pretty badass. And having a bath on so I try to take a bath every Sunday. I call them self care Sundays, which is something I picked up from who knows the internet probably. And you know, for me, especially internet

Kathleen Shannon 1:01:29
loves their liberating days. And I do too.

Sami Jo Jensen 1:01:36
But yeah, that's something like I believe I don't really believe in balance, because I think there's always going to be one thing that rises to the top. And then the next day, you know, you put the next thing on top. So some days, it's relationships. Some days it's work. Some days, it's side hustle. Some days, it's yourself and Sunday's for me, it's myself. So I try to make sure that I take a bath and just kind of you know, with my rose Himalayan bath salts, and I feel totally boss doing it.

Kathleen Shannon 1:02:04
Where can our listeners find you?

Sami Jo Jensen 1:02:07
You can find me at floor apothecary.com. For those of you who are like how do you spell that I need? I need some help. It's FL o r a p o th E ca, ri E. And I know it'll be in the show notes as well. And on all social media, I'm at four apothecary.

Emily Thompson 1:02:29
Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. I can't wait. Can't wait for the day. This is able to be your full time gig. And I imagine. I don't know I imagine your product line growing into some awesome, awesome things.

Kathleen Shannon 1:02:47
Yeah, I can't wait to see your product on the shelf at like Sephora or a place that I shot and being like Urban Outfitters

Unknown Speaker 1:02:53
is my goal.

Sami Jo Jensen 1:02:56
My goal, that is a good goal. So and I am testing some new products Kathleen has applied to be a tester, of course you're going to be

Kathleen Shannon 1:03:04
like I went through the application process and everything.

Sami Jo Jensen 1:03:08
Well, mostly I just need to make sure that people won't sue me in case like anything bad happened. So that's why I have that. Trying to cover my butt.

Kathleen Shannon 1:03:18
I'm ready. Good. Good. Um, all right. Well, thank you so much for hanging out with us. Again, we'll have links to all of your stuff in the show notes for our listeners. And yeah, thank you so much for being on the show. I'm so glad that we were finally able to make it work.

Sami Jo Jensen 1:03:33
Thank you.

Emily Thompson 1:03:35
All right, bosses get ready for some online business insights, Kathleen, and I firmly believe that a significant way to build financial security and do your business is by creating a recurring revenue stream. What this means is that your customers are paying you regularly, usually monthly for whatever it is you're offering. But the reality of this is that finding a system that will actually get that money into your hand without you hunting down your payment every month is difficult, unless you have a handy tool that will take care of it for you. This is where acuity scheduling has your back. With acuity you can not only schedule your appointments and take payments, which we find pretty boss in itself. But you can also sell memberships or subscriptions to these appointments think massage therapists, coaches and more so that you can find some stability and knowing that you'll be raking in cash without having to manage the collection. Put your scheduling and payment collection on autopilot through acuity scheduling. Sign up for your free trial of scheduling sanity at acuity scheduling calm slash being boss.

Kathleen Shannon 1:04:42
Thank you for listening to being boss. Find Articles show notes and downloads at WWW dot being boss club.

Emily Thompson 1:04:51
If you're a creative entrepreneur, Freelancer or small business owner who is ready to take your goals to the next level, check out the beam boss clubhouse. a two day online retreat followed by a year of community support, monthly masterclasses book club secret episodes and optional in person retreats. Find more at www dot being boss club slash clubhouse.

Kathleen Shannon 1:05:15
Thank you so much to our team and sponsors who make being boss possible our sound engineer and web developer Corey winter. Our editorial director and content manager Caitlin brain, our community manager and social media director Sharon lukey. And RB encountered David Austin with support from braid creative and indicia biography.

Emily Thompson 1:05:33
Do the work. Be boss, and we'll see you next week.